History YMMV / GSN

* DudeNotFunny: Many of the "jokes" from GSN's ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' "attempt" ''Faux Pause'', most notably mercilessly ridiculing ''Series/HotPotato'' for its set. Part of the set emitted steam whenever announcer Charlie O'Donnell said the show's title, and the hosts claimed this was "smoke" from a chain smoker who smoked a bunch of cigarettes at once to let off that much smoke. More than a few fans were outraged, particularly those who had loved ones who were killed by lung cancer and other illnesses caused by cigarette smoking (host Creator/BillCullen himself was a smoker, and it resulted in lung cancer that killed him in 1990).

* DudeNotFunny: Many of the "jokes" from GSN's ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' "attempt" "Faux-Pause," most notably mercilessly ridiculing ''Series/HotPotato'' for its set. Part of the set emitted steam whenever host Creator/BillCullen said the show title, and the hosts claimed this was "smoke" from a chain smoker who smoked a bunch of cigarettes at once to let off that much smoke. More than a few fans were outraged, particularly those who had loved ones who were killed by lung cancer and other illnesses caused by cigarette smoking. (Cullen himself was a smoker, and it resulted in lung cancer that killed him in 1990.)

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* DudeNotFunny: Many of the "jokes" from GSN's ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' "attempt" "Faux-Pause," ''Faux Pause'', most notably mercilessly ridiculing ''Series/HotPotato'' for its set. Part of the set emitted steam whenever host Creator/BillCullen announcer Charlie O'Donnell said the show show's title, and the hosts claimed this was "smoke" from a chain smoker who smoked a bunch of cigarettes at once to let off that much smoke. More than a few fans were outraged, particularly those who had loved ones who were killed by lung cancer and other illnesses caused by cigarette smoking. (Cullen smoking (host Creator/BillCullen himself was a smoker, and it resulted in lung cancer that killed him in 1990.)1990).

** In October 1997, the network lost the rights to every show from the Creator/MarkGoodson-Bill Todman library except ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' and the 1994-95 season of ''Series/FamilyFeud'' (where Richard Dawson returned). This time was called the Dark Period (after a station ID used during the era with a light-colored logo against a dark background), and to be fair it resulted in several lesser-known games being aired (''The Diamond Head Game'', ''Juvenile Jury'', ''Pass The Buck'', etc.) that the network didn't really show otherwise. The Goodson-Todman shows returned in April 1998, but there was less variety for a while on the daily schedule and some programs remained MIA.*** ''Faux Pause'', an original series during the Dark Period, attempted to be "''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' [[JustForFun/XMeetsY does]] [[SoBadItsGood bad]] {{Game Show}}s" and fell on its face. Two {{Jerkass}} "hosts" who clearly didn't know or care about game shows mocked either classics or cult favorites by way of "jokes" that were usually corny and sometimes went into offensiveness (the ''Series/HotPotato'' episode being a particularly {{egregious}} example). Had they not shown a few genuine rarities (the 1975 ''Hollywood Connection'' pilot, an episode of the 1980 ''Camouflage'', two episodes of ''[[Series/BullseyeUS Bullseye]]'', and a still-shot of the slate from the only surviving episode of ''Series/WinningStreak''), this travesty would've been long since forgotten.** Then came an onslaught of lame original programming (''[[Series/TheGongShow Extreme Gong]]'', ''Throut and Neck'', ''D.J. Games'') plus the beginning of credit crunches and editing out fee plugs, which would go on to continue to plague the network for classic game show fans. The rights to ''Price'' would be lost for good in April 2000, and vintage black-and-white shows of the 1950-69 era became rarer still. The quality of the network has been fluctuating ever since.

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** In October 1997, the network lost the rights to every show from the Creator/MarkGoodson-Bill Todman library except ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' and the 1994-95 season of ''Series/FamilyFeud'' (where Richard Dawson returned). This time was called the Dark Period (after a station ID used during the era with a light-colored logo against a dark background), and to be fair it resulted in which was later vindicated since several lesser-known games being were aired (''The Diamond Head Game'', ''Juvenile Jury'', ''Pass The the Buck'', etc.) that the network didn't really show otherwise. The Goodson-Todman shows returned in April 1998, but there was less variety for a while on the daily schedule and some programs remained MIA.*** ** The aforementioned ''Faux Pause'', an original series during just after the Dark Period, attempted to be "''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' [[JustForFun/XMeetsY does]] [[SoBadItsGood bad]] {{Game Show}}s" and fell on its face. Two {{Jerkass}} "hosts" who clearly didn't know or care about game shows mocked either classics or cult favorites by way of "jokes" that were usually corny and sometimes went into offensiveness (the ''Series/HotPotato'' episode being a particularly {{egregious}} example). Had they not shown a few genuine rarities (the 1975 ''Hollywood Connection'' pilot, an episode of the 1980 ''Camouflage'', two episodes of ''[[Series/BullseyeUS Bullseye]]'', and a still-shot of the slate from the only surviving episode of ''Series/WinningStreak''), this travesty would've been long since forgotten.** Then came an onslaught of lame original programming (''[[Series/TheGongShow Extreme Gong]]'', ''Throut and Neck'', ''D.J. Games'') Games''), plus the beginning of credit crunches and editing out fee plugs, which would go on to continue to plague the network for classic game show fans. The rights to ''Price'' would be lost for good in April 2000, and vintage black-and-white shows of the 1950-69 era 1950s-60s became rarer still. The quality of the network has been fluctuating ever since.

*** The results were very obviously rigged, with awards typically going to whomever GSN could get to show up. While it was mentioned on the voting page that the producers had final say on the winners (itself idiotic), fans cried '''major''' foul when Mandel/Fields got Best Host/Announcer and ''Series/AreYouSmarterThanAFifthGrader'' beat out the veterans for Best Game Show.*** Minigames were interspersed throughout, but had the '''dumbest''' people as contestants, particularly the mess that was "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVfsgEo6li4 Name It/Claim It]]"

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*** The results were very obviously rigged, with awards typically going to whomever GSN could get to show up. While it was ''was'' mentioned on the voting page that the producers had final say on the winners (itself idiotic), taken to task since it pretty much rendered the public voting pointless), fans cried '''major''' foul when Mandel/Fields Mandel got Best Host/Announcer Host, Fields won Best Announcer, and ''Series/AreYouSmarterThanAFifthGrader'' beat out the veterans for Best Game Show.*** Minigames were interspersed throughout, but had the '''dumbest''' people as contestants, particularly the mess that was "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVfsgEo6li4 Name It/Claim It]]"It]]".

** The debacle that was ''Big Saturday Night'', consisting of ''20Q'', ''The Money List'', and a bunch of wraparound segments hosted by people who had no idea how to host a game show. Including some painfully unfunny skits that seemed to insult the genre's fans. Not even condensing the wraparounds into its own half-hour slot worked.

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** The debacle that was ''Big Saturday Night'', consisting of ''20Q'', ''The Money List'', and a bunch of wraparound studio segments with minigames. While the first two are decent, the wraparounds were hosted by people who had no idea how to host a game show. Including show and had some painfully unfunny skits that seemed to insult the genre's fans. Not even condensing the wraparounds into its their own half-hour slot worked.

*** All of this helped enforce the GameShow genre's current DorkAge, and Fremantle Media finally begin broadcasting their own game show channel, Buzzr, which currently features the classic shows GSN hasn't really broadcast in a while except for mornings. It remains to be seen if GSN's NetworkDecay threatens to derail their position with Buzzr now in the equation as a competing channel.** The highlight of the current GSN's Decay lies in the "Survivor"-style reality shows like ''Skin Wars'' and ''Window Warriors''. At least its over-reliance on ''Family Feud'' uses a game show, and it has been good at airing older and creating new game shows, though their quality is iffy.* WereStillRelevantDammit: ''Emogenius'', an emoji-based game show (which wound up premiering the same season as the release of, yes, ''WesternAnimation/TheEmojiMovie''), is a pretty shameless attempt at this right down to having a minor YouTube celebrity as its host [[note]]Incidentally, he's also the grandson of a classic game show host[[/note]].

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*** All of this helped enforce the GameShow genre's current DorkAge, and Fremantle Media finally begin broadcasting their own game show channel, Buzzr, which currently features many of the classic shows GSN hasn't really broadcast in a while except for mornings. It remains to be seen if GSN's NetworkDecay threatens to derail their position with Buzzr now in the equation as a competing channel.** The highlight of the current GSN's Decay decay lies in the "Survivor"-style ''Survivor''-style reality shows like ''Skin Wars'' and ''Window Warriors''. At least its over-reliance on ''Family Feud'' uses a game show, and it has been good at airing older and creating new game shows, though their quality is iffy.* WereStillRelevantDammit: ''Emogenius'', an emoji-based game show (which wound up premiering the same season as the release of, yes, ''WesternAnimation/TheEmojiMovie''), is a pretty shameless attempt at this right down to having a minor YouTube celebrity as its host [[note]]Incidentally, he's also - though at least Hunter March ''does'' have some game show lineage, being the grandson of a classic game show host[[/note]].''$64,000 Question'' host Hal March.

*** The opening segment, where Mandel meets Barker, has the latter supposedly being God (an idea which provided some fun for game show fans) and Howie [[AllJustADream waking up]] to see Bob [[HoYay in bed next to him]]. While filming the bedroom scene, Barker joked (we hope) that "[[{{Squick}} This is how my Beauties got their jobs!]]" ''Damn'', Barker.

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*** The opening segment, where Mandel meets Barker, has the latter supposedly being God (an idea which provided some fun for game show fans) and Howie [[AllJustADream waking up]] to see Bob [[HoYay in bed next to him]]. While filming the bedroom scene, Barker joked (we hope) (or not) that "[[{{Squick}} "[[{{Squee}} This is how my Beauties got their jobs!]]" ''Damn'', Barker.

* WereStillRelevantDammit: ''Emogenius'', an emoji-based game show (which wound up premiering the same season as the release of, yes, ''WesternAnimation/TheEmojiMovie''), is a pretty shameless attempt at this right down to having a minor YouTube celebrity as its host. (though the celebrity IS the grandson of a classic game show host)

to:

* WereStillRelevantDammit: ''Emogenius'', an emoji-based game show (which wound up premiering the same season as the release of, yes, ''WesternAnimation/TheEmojiMovie''), is a pretty shameless attempt at this right down to having a minor YouTube celebrity as its host. (though the celebrity IS host [[note]]Incidentally, he's also the grandson of a classic game show host)host[[/note]].

* WereStillRelevantDammit: ''Emogenius'', an emoji-based game show (which wound up premiering the same season as the release of, yes, ''WesternAnimation/TheEmojiMovie''), is a pretty shameless attempt at this right down to having a minor YouTube celebrity as its host.

to:

* WereStillRelevantDammit: ''Emogenius'', an emoji-based game show (which wound up premiering the same season as the release of, yes, ''WesternAnimation/TheEmojiMovie''), is a pretty shameless attempt at this right down to having a minor YouTube celebrity as its host. (though the celebrity IS the grandson of a classic game show host)

*** ''Faux Pause'', an original series during the Dark Period, attempted to be "''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' [[XMeetsY does]] [[SoBadItsGood bad]] {{Game Show}}s" and fell on its face. Two {{Jerkass}} "hosts" who clearly didn't know or care about game shows mocked either classics or cult favorites by way of "jokes" that were usually corny and sometimes went into offensiveness (the ''Series/HotPotato'' episode being a particularly {{egregious}} example). Had they not shown a few genuine rarities (the 1975 ''Hollywood Connection'' pilot, an episode of the 1980 ''Camouflage'', two episodes of ''[[Series/BullseyeUS Bullseye]]'', and a still-shot of the slate from the only surviving episode of ''Series/WinningStreak''), this travesty would've been long since forgotten.

to:

*** ''Faux Pause'', an original series during the Dark Period, attempted to be "''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' [[XMeetsY [[JustForFun/XMeetsY does]] [[SoBadItsGood bad]] {{Game Show}}s" and fell on its face. Two {{Jerkass}} "hosts" who clearly didn't know or care about game shows mocked either classics or cult favorites by way of "jokes" that were usually corny and sometimes went into offensiveness (the ''Series/HotPotato'' episode being a particularly {{egregious}} example). Had they not shown a few genuine rarities (the 1975 ''Hollywood Connection'' pilot, an episode of the 1980 ''Camouflage'', two episodes of ''[[Series/BullseyeUS Bullseye]]'', and a still-shot of the slate from the only surviving episode of ''Series/WinningStreak''), this travesty would've been long since forgotten.

** The highlight of the current GSN's Decay lies in the "Survivor"-style reality shows like ''Skin Wars'' and ''Window Warriors''. At least its over-reliance on ''Family Feud'' uses a game show, and it has been good at creating new game shows, though their quality is iffy.

to:

** The highlight of the current GSN's Decay lies in the "Survivor"-style reality shows like ''Skin Wars'' and ''Window Warriors''. At least its over-reliance on ''Family Feud'' uses a game show, and it has been good at airing older and creating new game shows, though their quality is iffy.iffy.* WereStillRelevantDammit: ''Emogenius'', an emoji-based game show (which wound up premiering the same season as the release of, yes, ''WesternAnimation/TheEmojiMovie''), is a pretty shameless attempt at this right down to having a minor YouTube celebrity as its host.

** The highlight of the current GSN's Decay lies in the "Survivor"-style reality shows like ''Skin Wars'' and ''Window Warriors''. At least its over-reliance on ''Family Feud'' uses a game show, and it has been good at creating new game shows, though their quality is iffy.

* DudeNotFunny: Many of the "jokes" from GSN's ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' "attempt" "Faux-Pause," most notably mercilessly ridiculing ''Series/HotPotato'' for its set. Part of the set emitted steam whenever host Creator/BillCullen said the show title, and the hosts claimed this was "smoke" from a chain smoker who smoked a bunch of cigarettes at once to let off that much smoke. More than a few fans were outraged, particularly those who had loved ones who were killed by lung cancer and other illnesses caused by cigarette smoking. (Cullen himself was a smoker, and it resulted in lung cancer that killed him in 1990.)

* TheyJustDidntCare: The aforementioned credit crunches.** The aforementioned "Name It/Claim It": two contestants answer questions about game shows, with the first letter of each answer going into a puzzle. The first player to solve the puzzle wins the solution, which is a prize. Simple, but not only were the players dumb but technical problems plagued this segment. Howie's arguably at his best here.*** #1: Who was the first host of the classic game show ''Series/LetsMakeADeal''? The female got this one easily: Monty Hall.*** #2: What Bob was the original host of ''Series/TheNewlywedGame''? No response.--->'''Howie:''' You came to the ''Game Show Awards'' and you know nothing about them. [...] Do either of you know what letter would go up there with the answer "Eubanks"?\\'''Male Contestant:''' (''after trying to buzz-in'') U.\\'''Howie:''' "U" know nothing!*** Howie then asked the players if either knew the puzzle solution, forgetting that a correct answer had to be given first.--->'''Howie:''' Voices from the back going (''deep voice'') "NO!"*** #3: What reality competition TV show is hosted by Jeff Probst? No response, despite the fact that the previous (unaired) question was apparently "Who is the host of ''Series/{{Survivor}}''?"--->'''Howie:''' Do either of you have a television?*** And then the "S" refused to appear on the board.--->'''Howie:''' This is a well-oiled machine. [...] You don't think Vanna does much, it's ''so'' tough without her. [...] I feel very alone. With all this talent sitting here they chose the one guy who goes "Open your case." [...] Does [the "S"] go up there? Do I wait for it? Do I move on? I'm smiling on the outside, but inside [[BringMyBrownPants I'm shitting myself]].*** #4: Who is the announcer on tonight's show? '''No response!''' [[note]](Rich Fields.)[[/note]]--->'''Howie:''' I think I'm gonna win!*** #5: In the [[Creator/{{NBC}} primetime]] version of [[Series/DealOrNoDeal my show]], how many cases are there at the beginning of the game? Female contestant buzzes-in, says..."22." [[note]]The correct answer is "26."[[/note]]*** #6: What classic game show had players trying to remember where matching prizes were located on a board? Female contestant buzzes-in, says......"''{{Series/Concentration}}''", a show that at the time hadn't been on the air in '''''15 years!''''' (Causing, as you may expect, a stunned reply from the audience and Howie.)*** With only O's not showing, she gets the answer of "Motor Scooter" and puts this game out of its misery.** The network uses a time-compression machine, which should be no big deal since 1) most time-compression machines make imperceptible changes and 2) the compression is a necessary evil, given that most of the lineup comes from an era when commercial breaks were much shorter in proportion to program length than they are now. However, the operators clearly have ''no idea'' how to run the compressor, leading to frequent video glitches and brief moments where it seems as if everyone is suddenly talking like the MicroMachines man — and the Dawson-era ''Series/FamilyFeud'' intro particularly tends to get butchered. Less commonly, the compressor will "choke" and repeat a short segment multiple times at a progressively faster speed, almost giving the impression of a YouTubePoop.** Their "50 Greatest Game Shows of All Time" countdown included ''Series/YouBetYourLife'' and ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'', while not airing an episode of either. Although not too bad on the surface, the same marathon proved that GSN '''did''' pay for a 2000 episode of ''Series/ShopTilYouDrop'' — a series they never aired before, and didn't add to their regular schedule until 2013— while ''not'' airing either ''Series/WheelOfFortune'' or ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'', both of which were '''already on the schedule!'''

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